Rankings of the top universities across the globe employ 13 separate performance indicators designed to capture the full range of university activities, from teaching to research to knowledge transfer. These 13 elements are brought together into five areas, which are:

Teaching: the learning environment (worth 30 per cent of the overall ranking score)

Research: volume, income and reputation (worth 30 per cent)

Citations: research influence (worth 30 per cent)

Industry income: innovation (worth 2.5 per cent)

International outlook: staff, students and research (worth 7.5 per cent)

In the 2012-13 rankings, UCSB is 35th in the world and 9th among U.S. public institutions. The UCSB score on teaching was 56.1; research, 73.5; citations, 99.4; industry income, 100; and international outlook, 58.3.

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